The World Ends With Yu
by Zephyr Arcturus
Summary: On the way back to Inaba to visit for Golden Week, Yu gets caught in a terrible train wreck, which kills him instantly. One week later, the entire Investigation Team, save for Teddie, starts dying in some freak accidents, landing them in the Reaper's Game, where Yu is the new Composer. Now they have to survive a week of hell, and find themselves on another journey to the Truth.
1. Fallen Leader

**Alright, before we begin, I'd like to clarify some things, though I'm sure these are a given.**

**Considering this is a The World Ends With You and Persona 4 crossover, please bare in mind that a LOT of blood and sadness is to be expected. Also, as a word of warning, there will be a LOT of Persona 4 and The World Ends with you spoilers. If you do not want to be spoiled, please turn back now.**

**Thank you.**

* * *

_We will be arriving at Yasoinaba Station shortly. Please remain in your seats until then, thank you!_

Those familiar words were enough for Yu to feel his heart rate pick up. His elbow was pressed hard against the glass window, his fingertips tapped impatiently throughout the entirety of the train ride, so when the silver haired teen heard that they were going to be getting there soon, he struggled to contain his excitement. It was only natural, after all- it had been a while since Yu had seen his friends back in Inaba.

Now that he thought about it, it felt like it was only yesterday that he was in the Food Court of Junes, bantering with his friends (and, of course, watching them bicker amongst themselves rather than with him) and discussing how to catch the notorious murderer. As Yu closed his eyes, delightful memories began to circumvent in his mind; memories of the team fighting Shadows and working together to take down not just the true killer, but a God. They'd all sacrificed themselves more than once for his wellbeing, they all supported his leader status by doing their best to fight and raise themselves to Yu's level. They made him feel at home, and made him feel like he had a family- something he hadn't felt in a long time.

It was only a minor favor that Yu would return to Inaba to see them again, even if it was only for a week.

Eventually, Yu pulled his arm away from the glass window so that he could rummage through his jacket pocket, then pulled out his cell phone. A smile formed on his lips as he flipped the phone open, and he noticed all sorts of messages from the Investigation Team and other Social links alike. Most of them described how excited they were, while others asked him when he was getting there, since they were getting impatient. A content sigh left Yu's lips, and he placed the phone back into his pocket, now even more eager to arrive that day.

Though, he didn't expect the terror that came just shortly after.

Ear piercing screams suddenly resounded from the train, and people began to frantically grab onto the seats while others were flung around like ragdolls. A loud cry of pain came from Yu at the sound of metal colliding into metal came, resulting in being flung forward shortly after, head soon hitting the wall in front of him that was just hard enough for a "crack" to resonate. His hand reached up, and when he pulled it away, it was caked with a copious amount of blood.

The other passengers began to run back, away from the caboose, and Yu stood so that he could follow in their example. Unfortunately, the caboose he was in was close to the front, and within moments, the front of the caboose began to be pushed backwards, closer and closer to the crowd that gathered in the back. Panicked whimpers and sobs came out, and the last thing Yu saw as the front of the caboose come until it met with his body, and that's when he blacked out.

* * *

The sound of feet swiftly padding along the glossed pavement broke the silence of the morning, along with loud, exasperated pants. They stopped, and a redhead male bent over, his palms rested atop his knees so that he could bend over and attempt to catch his breath.

"Dammit... I gotta... Get to the train station..."

Yosuke mumbled under his breath as he picked himself back up, and once against took off in the direction of the station. His chest felt heavy from exhaustion, which was strange, considering Inaba wasn't exactly a large town. As he ran, it felt like his chest was on fire, but he had to keep going... He had to keep going, just to prove to himself that it was all just some sick joke.

_A terrible train wreck has happened just in front of the Yasoinaba Station._

_Both Teddie and Yosuke were leisurely watching the Television at the time when the program came on, and the moment the television showed the wreckage, it was then that Yosuke stood in absolute disbelief, his jaw was left agape as he struggled to take in the image before him._

_"Yosuke," Teddie began, his voice slightly wavered as he spoke. He looked like he was going to burst into tears at any given moment. "That's... Sensei's train, isn't it?"_

_That DEFINITELY wasn't what Yosuke wanted to hear, especially since the name of the train echoed his suspicions. No... no...! His fingers clenched tightly as his breath hitched, and he immediately stood up onto his feet so that he could run towards the door._

_"YOSUKE!" Teddie cried out as Yosuke suddenly opened the door, forcing Yosuke to stop and glare back at him. His eyes brimmed with tears as Teddie twiddled his thumbs, as if trying to find the right words for the situation. Normally, Teddie would try to crack a joke or two to get Yosuke to laugh (or get an annoyed response as usual), but from the atmosphere that was given off, he knew better, He let out a deep breath, and with the most sincerely concerned voice he could muster, he asked one question._

_"Is Sensei going to be okay...?"_

_Yosuke paused for a long time, unsure of how to answer Teddie's question. Even he didn't know if Yu was okay, hell, he was terrified that he probably wasn't even alive. Maybe... Just maybe, it was the wrong train, and this was all some sort of dream. Right? Yu was too tough and went through too much to die by something so... So... So IRONIC!_

_"Yeah, Ted. He'll be fine," he answered with a smile and his signature wink, though his trembling lip said otherwise. "He's my partner... I know he's too tough to let something like THAT kill him... He's probably off to the hospital, that's all, so don't worry about it, alright, Ted?"_

What a lie. It was a terrible, awful lie, and Yosuke knew it. But what could he tell Teddie, who was now counting on his beloved sensei to arrive in just a few hours? Well, all Yosuke had to do was greet Yu at the train station, and he'd be alive and well, no harm done. It was foolproof. Exept...

Yosuke stopped dead in his tracks as he arrived at the station, and what he saw was exactly what he feared. A loud, horrified gasp came as he saw a large group of Policemen surrounding a pile of rubble, and upon closer inspection, Yosuke confirmed that the rubble was definitely the trains that were caught up in the accident.

"Yu...!" he cried out as he darted forward, only to be stopped by two Police officers who were nearby. They grabbed his arms to prevent any further movement, aside from Yosuke squirming in their grasp and kicking his legs.

"LET ME GO! LET ME GO! M-MY FRIEND WAS IN THE ACCIDENT! HE NEEDS MY HELP, PLEASE! LET ME GO!" he continuously cried out in a mantra, his sobs that he tried to hold back erupted. His body continuously jerked to free himself from the Policemen, but with each jerk and thrash, their grip on him tightened.

"You need to calm down," the policemen tried to explain as the redhead continued to thrash about, tears continued to pour down his face. "Right now, we're looking for survivors... And we're sorry to say, but we haven't found any yet."

That was enough to make Yosuke slowly calm down, but a horrified expression soon formed on his face.

No... survivors...

Once the Policemen loosened their grip on him, Yosuke fell onto his knees, his eyes widened in disbelief. No survivors... So it's true. Yu was dead. His best friend, no, his partner was dead, the one person who Yosuke admired and held on a fairly high pedestal on his life... Dead. Lifeless. No more. He would never see him again, and that realization hurt more than anything else.

"No..." he whispered weakly as his body trembled, and he suddenly got onto his hands and knees, more tears began to fall as he let out one last, desperate cry.

**"YU!"**


	2. Day 1

A shiver went down Yosuke's spine as he walked down the street, his red nose was buried in the collar of his jacket. The streets were uncomfortably silent, which usually wasn't a surprise, but it had been like that since the awful wreckage just a week ago. It was a grim subject, and seemed to be the only thing that was on everyone's minds; some people were worried about what happened to cause the wreckage, while others were irritated about not being on the train. Either way, the topic was pretty gloomy, and Yosuke did his best to ignore it. It was probably best to not dwell on it.

He entered through the glass double double doors, the cheerful tune rang as soon as he entered. Normally, this would have irritated Yosuke, but today was different. While it still got under his skin, he mood was too low to come up with some irritated comment. Instead, he let out a sigh, and went into the elevator, his hands buried themselves into their pockets as he stood there.

He's gone... He thought to himself. Though it had been a week, that realization still struck him. He'd never see him again, and he was sure he wasn't the only one who was distraught about it. In fact, ever since the incident, it seemed like no one on the team wanted anything to do with each other... Without the glue to keep them together, they were separated. It was like they couldn't do anything without Yu there to keep them in line, or to comfort them when they needed it, or any of that. That's probably the part that hurt Yosuke the most- now that he thought about it, it almost seemed like they manipulated him. Now that he was gone, they were lost... It was an awful, guilt-inducing realization.

The elevator dinged, and Yosuke got off of it, only to pause when he saw nearly all of the T.V.s display the news in the electronics section. Intrigued, Yosuke went to check on them, only to be horrified by the news he saw.

"And in other news, a terrible tragedy has occurred in Tatsumi Port Island. Famous idol Rise Kujikawa, who grew up here in Inaba, has passed away. The cause of death has been confirmed to be a speaker, which fell on top of her head during a performance. More details will come after the following messages…"

Yosuke just stood there in disbelief, his jaw wide open as he tried to stomach the news. Rise… dead? This wasn't happening… This couldn't be happening! Yosuke took a few steps back, a single tear rolled down his cheeks as his gaze remained glued to the T.V. This was just some coincidence, right? The fact that two people that Yosuke was close to were dead, all within a short time frame. Unless… Was someone sabotaging them? Was someone trying to get back at them for something they did wrong? It couldn't have been Adachi. He was locked up in jail, and besides, the accidents were just far too uncanny for them to have been done by a normal human.

All he knew was that SOMETHING was going wrong.

He quickly turned on his heels, then took off in the opposite direction so that he could make it past the glass double doors, then to his motorcycle. If Yosuke's suspicions were correct, then one of the other Team members was next. Perhaps he could go and try to stop the culprit from getting to them, if that were the case!

As soon as he made it to his motorcycle, he quickly sat down in the seat, then revved up the bike so that he could drive away. The rumbling engine resounded, and with a squeeze on the handle, he drove off towards the direction of the Amagi Inn. Unfortunately, he didn't count on the next part to happen.

While he was approached the Tatsumi Textiles Shop, he definitely didn't count on Kanji to be out and about. Before Yosuke had a chance to stop, he panicked, and he let out a panicked scream.

"KANJI, MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!"

Too late. Before Kanji even had a chance to yell or scream, Yosuke frantically tried to move the scooter out of Kanji's direction. THe motorcycle turned to the side in an attempt to stop it, but it was far too late- the side of the motorcycle hit Kanji with full force. The impact was enough to fling Yosuke off of the bike, then hit the wall of Tatsumi Textiles head first. Then… Blackout.

What felt like hours passed before Yosuke could finally open his eyes, a loud groan came out as he gently rubbed his head.

"Damn… That hurt," he grumbled to himself as he got up, and when he got onto his feet, the first thing he noticed was a small group of people surrounding him. Huh… Did they all just pass out at the same time? Sadly, the only three people in the pile that he could recognize were Yukiko, Chie, and Rise, and the only reason he recognized her was because she was on every single T.V. Let's see who else… Kanji Tatsumi- Wait. KANJI. SHIT! What was HE doing there!? Crap, if he woke up, he'd probably beat the shit out of him! He gulped and took a few steps back- only to trip over a smaller body. He let out a yell, then fell onto his rear, the noise loud enough to wake everyone around him up.

"Keep it DOWN, Yosuke, I'm trying to sleep!" Chie cried out at him, a loud groan of irritation came out as she looked around. "But… Man, where the heck ARE we? And who are all these people we're with?"

Yosuke paused to look around at the surroundings, and it was then that he noticed that he wasn't in Inaba anymore. In fact, the setting was FAR more urban than Inaba. 104 building, the Scramble Crossing… Yep. Yosuke knew exactly where they were.

"Hey… Chie… Call me crazy, but doesn't this place look like Shibuya?" for a moment, Chie just paused, then took the time to examine the place.

"Shibuya? I'm… Not sure, actually," considering she never left Inaba in her life, how was she supposed to know what Shibuya looked like?

"Well, YEAH, look, there's the 104 building right there!" as soon as Yosuke looked in the direction of the building, Chie immediately gave a shocked reaction.

"WHOAH! So THIS is what Shibuya looks like!"

"Hey! No time to be fascinated right now, Chie!"

"Ack! Right, sorry. Hey… Wait, Yosuke, did you say you were from Tokyo? Shibuya's in Tokyo, so this is where you're from, right?"

"Yeah, and getting to Inaba from here was hell, too," he grumbled, not wanting to reminisce on that. "But something DOES seem strange. I was just riding my motorcycle, and suddenly, I'm here. Hey, Chie, do you think this could be a dr-" suddenly, a yelp came from Yosuke as Chie promptly kicked him in the stomach, then tapped her foot on the ground.

"Did you feel that?" she asked, her hands on her hips.

"W-What the hell was that for!?"

"Well, that answers that. This isn't a dream. But… Graah, this makes no sense, then!"

"Look, let's just calm down and look around, and try not to kick each other around, alright?"

"Right… But uh… Yosuke? Who are all these people?"

"How should I know? The only people that I know are you and Yukiko! Though, I gotta say, having an idol with us isn't too bad."

"Well, DUH, I know the IDOL, I'm asking who everyone ELSE is!"

That was odd. Chie and Yukiko were best friends… So maybe she was just a little disoriented? Who knew. Yosuke was confused as to who everyone else was himself.

"Well, I'm sure you know Yukiko, since-"

"Amagi-san? You mean the one who runs the Amagi Inn, right?"

Okay. This HAD to be some practical joke.

"... Chie, knock it off. I'm being serious, here!"

"And I am TOO! Jeeze, what made you think I know her? I mean, I've been to the Amagi Inn a couple of times, and she sits in front of me in class, but we've never talked!"

Yep. Something was wrong here. Chie and Yukiko were inseparable, so how could she not recognize Yukiko in an instant?

"First we're in Shibuya for some… Some god knows WHAT reason, and then you can't remember Yukiko. What's next, no one remembers one another?"

Spoke too soon. As soon as Yukiko woke up, she let a groan, then got onto her feet.

"That hurt…" she mumbled as she looked over at Yosuke. "Y-Yosuke? What are you doing here? And…" she stopped, looked around, then looked at him again. "Where are-"

"Shibuya. Don't ask me why, because I don't know why we're here either, but maybe we should find a way to get out of here."

"Huh? Well… Alright. But do we have to take them with us?"

Oh no. Not Yukiko, too.

"Graah! This is so strange. Why can't you remember an-"

His words were suddenly cut off when he felt a harsh kick to his back, forcing both of the girls to shriek in terror at the culprit- some sort of frog was on top of Yosuke, only it was abnormally large and seemed to have a strange tribal marking for limbs. Of course, the shriek Yosuke let out was enough to make everyone else shoot up, and look at the frog in horror.

"W-WAAAH! WHAT IS THAT THING!?" Chie cried out as she quickly ducked behind Kanji.

"The hell- That thing's HUGE!" Came Kanji's voice as he shot up, and all at once, the Team backed up, though Rise seemed to be the one that cowered the most.

"F-F-Frog…" she mumbled meekly before she hid her face… Well, this was a direct contrast from the normally confident Rise that came along. When the frog jumped off of Yosuke's back and lunged itself at Chie, Yosuke quickly backed away, a panicked whimper came from his lips.

"What the hell- Isn't ANYONE seeing this!?" nope. It seemed everyone else besides them were just walking around, as if nothing happened. Shit… So he couldn't ask for help or anything? Hell, could they even SEE them? Before Yosuke had a chance to find out, he heard a ringing resound, and with a grunt, he pulled a flip phone out of his pocket, only to be greeted with a single notification.

[TEXT:] Make a pact and make it to the 104 building, or face erasure. You have 50 minutes.[TEXT]

"Erasure, what the he- GAH!" in an instant, the entire Team let out cries of pain as a searing pain was felt on the palms of their hands.

"What the hell was tha-" Kanji was cut off again when the frog attacked him, and Yosuke just let out a grunt as he picked himself up off the ground. "Make a pact… Hey, Rise, get over here!"

Of course, Rise remained behind Kanji, which made him put a hand on her shoulder- though, as soon as he did, a bright, white light suddenly enveloped them, forcing them to step back in surprise.

"Hey… Kanji, how'd you do that?" he asked, still a bit surprised by what just happened.

"How the hell am I supposed to know!? I just touched her, and that happened!"

Yosuke just paused and let out a hum, before he rubbed his chin. Was this what the mission meant when they said to make a pact?

"Chie, grab my hand!" he called out, but before she could utter a word of protest, he quickly grabbed her hand, and, similarly, a bright light formed between the two, which Yosuke assumed meant that the two had established a pact.

"Oh! I see! So that's how you do it-" with that, Yukiko promptly grabbed Naoto's hand, who in turn jerked her hand away, though not before another bright light came up.

"Huh? Amagi-san, I'm not… entirely sure what this pact business is, but I assure you that I don't need your hel-"

Naoto's words were cut short when the frog bounded towards her, and, though he didn't know why in his right mind he did this, he jumped in front of Naoto and used one of the hidden kunais in his sleeve to slash at it- forcing it to fly backwards. Was this why they had to make a pact? Well, now wasn't the time to figure THAT out. The time on their palms was running out.

"Guys, just cmon! We'll worry about these things later!" with that, Yosuke ran off towards the 104 building, with everyone (though Naoto did so reluctantly) running behind him, the Frogs following them all the way. He wasn't sure WHAT he was doing here… But Yosuke was DEFINITELY going to have to find someone who had answers.


End file.
